Scrolling through posts for details results in a lot of "no info on the game awards; here's a hook for my twitch, video game, and/or NSFW art" posts. blech!

Yes, it's another card game concept in a short, but distinguished line of card game concepts I haven't brought to fruition, but the concepts are the fun part of it.

Winning the stakes is good, but a few well-played events might be able to reverse those point values:

Enemy can play Events to disrupt. After three conflicts are defeated, player with the most wins takes the stakes & Act 3 starts. Play a few more cards as a denouement--items become rewards, chars become family, events become futures, etc. & the Stakes let you play higher-value cards for points.

Conflict itself is beating one of four values on a Stakes card played in Act 2. Emotion, reason, combat, & skill. They are really vague though. But it's a generic system*. Values are modified by location. Players use Hero values + supporting characters + items to meet/beat one value.

You can lose the conflict/stakes & still win on points, but it shouldn't be easy. Cards generally have symbols/keywords/numbers for each phase for general interaction, but will probably work best when played in a certain Act. Some will have text abilities to that effect.

Each card type plays differently in the Establishment, Conflict, and Resolution acts. In Act 1, a played character is a main character/hero. In Act 2, played characters are supporting characters who give lil' buffs. In Act 3, they're family & give points. Locations, events, etc. change the same way.

Wouldn't be surprised.